06-Jun, Final
Peter takes Pilatus Cup title
Remo Handl reports

It was a firing start to the last final of this years Squash-Festival as Reiko Peter once again showed his ability to play on a very fast pace. Peter came out on the bouncy court like a rocket and found a very good length and width after the first rallies.

In the meantime, his opponent, Aqeel Rehman did not show his best Squash today as he made many unforced errors - but you have to say that this was not an easy task against an in-shape Reiko Peter. After just 34 minutes Peter took his first chance to close the match winning it 11-7 11-7 11-8.

This victory is Peter's second title on home-soil and his third on the world tour ever. And it was also a nice way for the Swiss crowd to end this years PSA tournaments of the Squash-Festival...

Wow! Played some good rallies today. Really happy to win my third title. Especially in my home club at the end of the season. Was getting really tired of playing squash now. But to finish like that is such a peasure.

Thanks to everyone involved here at Pilatus Club.
Thanks to my supporters and sponsors. But a special thank to my family and friends who support me every day!
Wishing everyone a good summer break now -see you again next year! 



Congratulations to Reiko.

Unfortunately for me not my best performance this week. Reiko put a lof of pressure on me and I produced way too many unforced errors. Only in patches I managed to step up.
I have to learn from it, it was still a good tournament for me.
Thanks to the organising team.

11-4, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4

[4] Joel Makin

 11-7 11-7,
 11-8 (34m)

[2] Aqeel Rehman

11-6, 11-5, 11-7

[2] Aqeel Rehman

03-Jun, Qualifying Finals:

Tom de Mulder (Bel) 3-0 Amadeo Costa (Sui)                    11-6, 11-9, 11-7
Ondrej Uherka (Cze) 3-1 Dimitri Steinmann (Sui)     12-14, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4
Adrian Ostbye (Nor) 3-2 Roman Allinckx (Sui) 11-8, 8-11, 15-13, 9-11, 16-14
Daniel Mekbib (Cze) 3-0 Miles Jenkins (Eng)                        11-5, 11-5, 11-1

02-Jun, Qualifying Round One:

Tom de Mulder (Bel) 3-0 Dennis Grueter (Sui)      11-4, 11-9, 11-6
Amadeo Costa (Sui) 3-0 Jan Kurzmeyer (Sui)      11-7, 14-12, 11-5
Ondrej Uherka (Cze) 3-0 Yanick Buric (Sui)           11-4, 11-3 11-4
Dimitri Steinmann (Sui) 3-0 Fabio Fuchs (Sui)        11-4, 11-9, 11-6

Adrian Ostbyte (Nor) 3-0 Marius Schwab (Sui)       11-1, 11-6, 11-3
Roman Allinckz (Sui) 3-1 Luca Wilhelmi (Sui) 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 11-2
Miles Jenkins (Eng) 3-0 Nils Roesch (Sui)                11-6, 11-3, 11-3
Daniel Mekbib (Cze) 3-0 Lukas Burkhart (Sui)           11-3 11-9 11-6

05-Jun, Quarters & Semis
Top seeds through to final in Kriens
Remo Handl reports

Today there was a double round on the schedule as both quarter- and semifinals were played.

The day started with two very solid performances of Reiko Peter and Joel Makin which both came through their quarters with a 3-0 victory. Jan Koukal had to fight much harder as he saw himself matchball down in the fourth against Benjamin Fischer - but he still managed to overcome him. After a slow start from Aqeel Rehman, Daniel Mekbib saw himself one to nil up but eventually lost the next three games as Rehman adapted much better to the fast pace.

After several hours break Peter and Makin came again on court to battle for a spot in the final. After a very impressive start from Peter, Makin managed to come back in the third. But Peter stepped again on the gas after loosing this third game and finished the match with another 11-4.

As Koukal was not really able to recover physically from the hard quarterfinal, the second semifinal was all Aqeel Rehman's.With a very solid and intelligent performance the number one from Austria won against his Czech compatriot in three plain games.

So tomorrow Reiko Peter will play in a final at home for the second time - after winning the PSA Inno Wood Open two weeks ago. He will for sure be aimed to bring home (or better to say to keep at home) his third PSA title ever. But for sure also Aqeel Rehman will throw in everything he has to win his fifth title...
  

04-Jun, Round One
One seed out - three came through very close
Remo Handl reports

Today the top four guys came through easily, just Aqeel Rehman lost one game against up-and-coming Manuel Wanner.

The five to eight seeds had to fight much more - and even one upset was produced. Jonas Dähler won his match after a very close battle 3-2 against Martin Svec. Tim Weber managed to come through after seeing himself 0-2 and 4-9 down against local Remo Handl. Also Benjamin Fischer saw himself 1-2 behind in games before he closed the match in the fifth against Tom de Mulder.

Only upset of today was produced by Daniel Mekbib by defeating his old junior rival Patrick Miescher in three games.

Tomorrow will be a packed day with two rounds - one before lunchtime and one in the evening. The last eight players will contest for a place in Saturday's PSA final - the last of this year's Squash-Festival.

What they said:

Reiko Peter :
Very hot and bouncy out there. I was able to play a fast pace and that was my advantage today. Pumped for the quarters tomorrow.
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Jakob Dirnberger :
Short trip to Kriens this time. Playing the local hero on his couch here was hard. Took me too long to get used to the conditions.
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Jonas Daehler :
It was tough to play 5 games on such a bouncy and hot court. Happy to be in my third quarterfinal in a row at my home club.
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Martin Svec:
What a match! Playing 70 minutes in this conditions is really exhausting. Last time I lost to Jonas 3-1 so I was hoping for revenge but unfortunately he had a good start in the 5th. I wish him good luck in the next match and hope that next time it is going to be me who can celebrate after the match.
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Tim Weber:
Last time for this year. I am tired but happy to win the 1st match.
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Joel Makin :
Happy with how I played today, good to get through in 3 on these really hot courts! Looking forward to the quarters tomorrow.
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Ondrej Uherka :
I have played Joel a few times before so I know what to expect. I had a couple of ideas on how to play him but this time it didn?t seem to work. I had a tough match yesterday and he moved me into the corners really well.
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Manuel Wanner:
Tough game, really enjoyed it! Now on to summer training after a couple of days off. I need it!
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Aqeel Rehman:
Good performance, good first match. Missed one matchball in the third game, would have been to save some energy. But I felt good and strond. Manuel played well and challenged me to lift my game.
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David Mekbib:
Really happy to win 3-0, I didn?t expected to win like that. Probably my best performance in four weeks. Again I was hitting all my targets, so pleased to win and I hope to play even better tomorrow.
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Beni Fischer :
I was moving slower than normally and saw the ball a bit late, especially on his forehand, he is pretty tricky there. Glad I got away with it in the end. Looking forward to playing better tomorrow.
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Tom De Mulder :
I think I played well the first three games. But in the 4th and 5th I just couldn?t find my focus. Also couldn?t get my legs going anymore.
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Remo Handl:
Gutted to lose in five today, but at least I played some good Squash in the first two and a half games. Next time I hopefully take the chance...
 

03-Jun, Qualifying Finals
Main draw spots allocated
according to the seedings
Remo Handl reports

The top four players took their chance today and saved themselves a spot in the main draw.

The number one and two seeds, Tom de Mulder and Daniel Mekbib never struggled in their race to the maindraw. Both of them showed very solid performances and finished off in three games against their opponents Amadeo Costa and Miles Jenkins.

Ondrej Uherka had definitely more to work than his fellow countryman as he was up against Dimitri Steinmann. After loosing the first game in the tie-break he kept pushing (with the help of the czech corner in front of court 4) and managed to win the next three games. Though this match must have cost both players a lot of energy as they had to fight for each point in this hot and rheumy conditions.

The tightest battle of the final round of qualification was the one between local youngster Roman Allinckx and Adrian Ostbye.

Each of the five games went at least to 11-8 and even two of them ended just in the tie-break. As both players fought as hard as they could it also came to a tie-break in the fifth game. After several matchballs from both players, and at the score of 15-14 Ostbye managed to close the game with a nice forehand winner.

The updated maindraw looks like this after the qualification players were allocated to their spots: Uherka will face Makin, Ostbye will face Koukal, de Mulder will face Fischer and Mekbib will face his old junior rival Miescher.

Tomorrow's main draw action will once again bring several Swiss players on court in Kriens. But this time also a large group of Czechs are present and ready to contest for a place in a quarter finals.

02-Jun, Qualifying Round One:
All seeds through qualifying finals

All the seeded players are through to the final round of qualification at the PSA Pilatus Cup 2015.

All professional players from abroad won their matches pretty easy in three games against their local opponents. Just one match was a bit tighter - the one between the two Swiss youngsters Roman Allinckx and Luca Wilhelmi.

Tomorrow we will see who of the remaining eight players makes it to the main draw. Swiss hope is still alive as there are local players in three of four qualifying final matches.